Woman sentenced to probation for child endangerment

A 40-year-old Minot woman has been given two years of supervised probation and a deferred imposition of sentence for exposing children to drugs and to possession of a controlled substance.

Harmony Stone Woman Cornelius pleaded guilty on Friday in district court in Minot to child endangerment, a Class C felony, and to possession of drugs, a Class A misdemeanor, court records show.

According to the probable cause affidavit filed with the court, three people at a residence were charged last fall after the Ward County Narcotics Task Force went to the 500 block of 18th Avenue SE to arrest a man on an outstanding warrant. Officers found drugs and drug paraphernalia in the apartment. Cornelius’s 4-year-old son and a 1-year-old girl, the daughter of one of Cornelius’s relatives, were present in the apartment. Cornelius admitted to smoking methamphetamine the previous day when chilren were present.

Judge Gary Lee also ordered Cornelius to obtain a chemical dependency evaluation and to pay $1,100 in court costs.

For the drug possession, she was sentenced to 360 days of supervised probation and given a deferred imposition of sentence. That sentence is concurrent with the one for child endangerment.

Eric Jordan Carridine and Matthew Darwood White Bear were also charged with felony child endangerment in the case, along with drug charges. Those cases are still pending.